Step construction



p 1938- c. F. HIRSHFELD 2,130,131

STEP CONSTRUCTION Filed March 27, 1951 19-6 mm Nw claruwez ATTORNEY.

I Patented Sept. 13, 1938 v 2 PATENT-4 OFFICE 2,130,131 STEP CONSTRUCTION Clarence r. Hirshfeld,

Detroit, Mich, assignor. to

Transit Research Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation or New York Application March z'i. 1937, Serial No. 133,411

5 Claims. I (01. 105 451) invention relates to public conveyances such as street cars and buses, and especially to electrically operated conveyances intended to be' used in those parts of the world in which snow is 5 encountered during a portion of each year.

During the operation of street cars in snowy weather, it has been found that entering passengers carry into'the cars a certain amount'of snow upon their feet. Some .of this snow drops ofi or is scrapedofi onto the steps as they enter the car. Some passengers stamp their feet to remove it as they enter. W'hen snow is falling and the wind is blowing againstthe entrance side of the car, it is frequently blown in when the 1 door is open to admit passengers. Sometimes the snow drifts in also under the lower edge of the door when the door is closed. It is trampled upon and packed down by the incoming passengers turning into ice, and on some days builds up to a. considerable depth. This packed snow and ice makes the footing of incoming passengers less secure and causes them to enter the car more slowly, thus slowing down the operation of the car. Occasionally, a passenger slips upon the slippery surface and injures himself. In severe weather it sometimes becomes thick enough to interfere with or sometimes prevent entirely the operation of the doors, which in the more modern cars are arranged to swing inside of the car.

One of the principal objects ofthis invention is to provide a means for preventing such an accumulation of snow or ice. I

More specifically it is an object of this invention to provide means for melting the snow or ice upon the steps as rapidly as it accumulates. Another specific object is to employ aportion of the car heating system as a means for directing a warm stream of air over some of the steps upon which such accumulation would ordinarily oc- 40 our.

Another object is to provide a body comprising sills, cross-sills and pier posts of hollow construction to constitute ducts.for warm air, and to extend these ducts beneath a step in such manner that the extensions also constitute body structural members.

Other objects and advantages will become herematter more fully apparent, as reference is bad to the accompanying drawing, wherein my invehtion is illustrated and in which,

' Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of I the parts of the car necessary for a clear understanding of this invention. with parts broken away to more clearly show their structure,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view taken upon a plane just below the floor of the car,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, taken in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 taken in the direction of the arrows.

While this invention is appii' able to any type of street car or to buses or other vehicles, I have chosen to illustrate it in connection with the ,most modern type of street car having a heating system of the type disclosed in the co-pending application of Emil H. Piron, Serial No. 84,732, and having, with l0 and ll,the cross sills l2, l3, l4, and I5, and the pier posts l6, l1, l8, I9, 20, 2!, 22 and 23, which form alarge part of the frame of the car, are hollow box-section members most of which are used as ducts to constitute the collection and distributing means for a heating and ventilating system.

The spaceunder the floor of the car between the two central cross sills l3 and I4 contains the air heating and impelling means for the system. In this space, on the side of the car opposite the steps 25 and 2B, is placed the blower 21 which circulates the air. In 'cold weather, air supplied to the blower 21 is collected through openings 28- and, conducted into the space between the ceiling-29 and the roof 30. From this space it passes down through the pier posts l6, l1, l9, 2|, Hand 23, and through the end cross sills I2 and L5 to the side sill H. The side sill I I, which projects slightly above the floor of the car 24, is also providedwith apertures 3| opening directly into the interior of the. car just above the floor 24. Air is also withdrawn from the interior of the car through these apertures 3| and joins the air collected through the apertures in the ceiling 28.

From the side sill II, the collected air is led through blocked off portions of the center cross sills l3 and It to a chamber 32 containingthe blower 21. From this chamber 32, the air is .forced by the blower 21 into a second chamber 33 containing resistances 34 which heat the air. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated,

. the resistances 34 are used for controlling the traction motors 41, only one of which is shown in the diagram. It will be understood that, in the case of a rail vehicle, the motors are carried by trucks, not shown. v

The heated air then flows from the chamber 33 through the cross sills l3 and II to the side sill III which. serves as a distribution duct. The

this application, a common assignee. In this form of street car, the side sills side sill "ll projects slightly above the floor 2t and is provided with a series of apertures 35 out of which the warm air can flow into the interior of the car. Dampers It are provided in the walls ofthecrosssills II and lltosendthewarmair to the outside of the car instead of to the inside as may be desired. vThese dampers 36 are controlled manually or by suitable thermostatic means, so that the temperature of the interior of the car is maintained within a given range. In severe winter weather, 'whenthe heat provided by the motor'resistors I4 isnot sufficient to heat the car, additional heat 'is provided by extra resistances 31 placed in the side sill II which serves as the warm air duct. The e of current through the extra resistances 31 is also controlled by suitable thermostatic means.-

It will be noted that in the heating and ventilating system as described thus far, warm air is conducted by the cross sills l3 and It to both ends of the steps II and 28 at the center of the car, and that warm air is conducted by the side ,sill II to the rear end of the front steps 30 and the invention by which I have chmn to illustrate this invention, 1, have provided a duct ll extending lengthwise of the car between the two central cross sills II and I4 and just below the upper step 28 and in back of the riser 4| at the back of the lower step 2!. The riser 4|, which forms one of the side walls of the duct I, is provided' with apertures 42 adapted to direct the air onto the surface of the lower step 25. If the riser I is made of sheet metal, the apertures 42 can be inverted louvres, as shown clearly in I'ig.' 3.

At the i'r'ontof the car a diagonal partition 48 cuts oi! the corner of the space in the intersection of the front pier post It and the front cross sill II. The partition 43 provides a eway leading from the'end of the warm air duct it to a duct 44 under the upper front step II and in back of the riser between the steps 3| and I9.

. The duct 44 and the riser ll are arranged "in thesamemannerasthe duct llandriserllin the steps at the center of thecar.-

with this arrangement, the steps It and 4! arewarm'edbythewarmairpassingintbeducts steps will be melted.

latesuponthelowerstepsliandliismeltedby' ity inside of them. The warm air directedinside of the stair wells by this arrangement mixes with the cold air which leaks in around the doors," warming it and preventing the portions of the car near the door from being chilledbythe air 5 which has inflltered. 1

While I have shown only the preferred embodim'ent of my invention, indy which part 08 the energydissipated as heat in e operation of a street car motor is used to melt the snow, my

invention, in its broader aspects, contemplatesother sources of heat'and other means of applying it and is limited only by the scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:-- i "1. In a vehicle, an entrance or exit step, a

wall rising above said step, a warm air chamberon the other side of said wall from said step, and apertures in said wall, said apertures being shaped so as to direct said warm air down upon Austen V 2. In a vehicle a pair of hollow cross sills and steps between said cross sills, means for supplying warm air to the interior of said cross sills, and a duct below one of said steps, said duct extending between and being connected to the interior of said sills, the top and one sidewall respectively of said duct forming the tread surface of one of said steps and the riser for the step therebelow, through.

3. 'In a vehicle having a pair of hollow cross sills, means for supplying; warm air to the interior of said cross sills, a step between said cross sills, a duct extending between said cross sills in back of said step and means for discharging warm air from said cross sills onto said step.

A. In a'vehicle having a hollow side sill formsaid riser having vents there'- ing a warm air .duct of a. heating and ventilating system, a hollow pier post and a hollow cross sill forming'a collecting air duct of said system, and an entrance or exit step on the other side of said pier post and cross sill from said sidesill, the combination 01' a duct leading from the end of said sidesill and under said pier post and said cross sill and along the back of said step, and

means for conducting air from said duct onto' said step.

5.-In a vehicle-having a hollow side sill forming a warm air duct of a heating and ventilating 'a hollow pier post and a hollow cross sill connected together atthe'end of saldside sill and in line therewith and forming a returp air duct, and an entrance step on the other side of said pier post and cross sill from said side sill,

the combination of a partition in the intersection of said pier postand side; sill and sloping down towards the center line of the vehicle, said partition leaving the interiors of said pier post and said side sill in communicaiion with eachother and defining a small separate chamber communicatingwiththeendofsaidside sill,'and means for said steps.

lcadingairfromsaidchamberonto 

